NordVPN

NordVPN is another top Virtual Private Network (VPN) that we support here at Handicappers Hideaway. With the continued expansion of businesses and people flocking to the internet it is imperative that people take their privacy serious.

NordVPN was launched by childhood friends back in 2012. The friends spent a lot of time in different parts of the world and they both were alarmed at a growing trend. They saw the growing internet censorship, content control, and intrusive government surveillance. They saw a rapidly growing need for an internet security tool that’s easily accessible to everyone. This is how the company came to be.

The United States and other countries have proven they will spy on anyone and everyone. Even without warrants. Even though the EU has taken privacy steps a lot further than the US, it is still a smart thing to protect your privacy at all costs.

With NordVPN you can know that your security is protected and it will protect your information from everyone, including hackers. There are a handful of companies that are at the top of the list that people can trust with full certainty and here at Handicappers Hideaway we have what we consider the top of these lists.

NordVPN operates worldwide, but its headquarters are in Panama. That’s a big plus for everyday people because Panama falls outside of Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and 14 Eyes jurisdiction. For people who don’t know these are groups of countries who have agreed to work closely together to pool massive surveillance data and share it with the relevant parties. These countries are not monitored by any agency so they have permission to spy on people in the other countries Jurisdictions in the alliance.

The Five Eyes, or FVEY for short, is a group of countries consisting of the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Five Eyes gave rise to other alliances. The major ones are the Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes. Members of the nine eyes include the Five Eyes’ nations plus Denmark, Netherlands, France, and Norway. The Fourteen Eyes alliance consists of countries in the Nine Eyes alliance plus Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Sweden. All alliances actively share on matters of international intelligence even though their relationships may not be as tight as that of the countries in the five eyes.

These organizations developed after the Cold War started and have never ended. They were created to spy on the Soviet Union and other Communist nations. These countries were originally sourced to decrypt Soviet intelligence information. As we all know, these groups never are disbanded and continue on doing what they do.

The Speed of NordVPN

A VPN tunnels your web traffic through an encrypted server. By doing this it is granting you an extra layer of privacy from your, and others, internet service providers, government agencies or your school’s network administration. By doing this there is a trade-off. The extra protection slows down your internet speed. But by how much is the key.

We will not get into all the details about the speed tests and other metrics as that is not what this is about. We are here just to alert you to the top VPNs and lead you into the right direction. From all the tests we have seen online from companies that test the speed and security of these companies, NordVPN passed the speed test with flying colors.

The speed loss metric of 20% loss is pretty much the standard, and Nord stays under almost every time. The speed loss of Nord seemed to be between 11%-17%. Naturally this goes up and down depending on how many tabs you have open on your browser and what you are doing. Streaming movies and playing video games is definitely server intensive. Where surfing the internet or playing on social media is not.

NordVPN has over 6,300 servers in 111 countries, which is near the the top of all the quality companies. Below is a chart of the servers and what other top VPN’s offer.

Right now they offer up to 69% discount on a 2 year plan + 3 additional months. That works out to around $108 for two years. The one year plan would be $82 or so. You can see that the two year plan is the much better deal. This is on the “Plus” plan. There is a Ultimate plan that is $162 for two years that includes 1 TB of storage and adds $1Million in Identity Theft coverage and $100,000 in cyber extortion protection. Not a bad deal if you need something that is that inclusive.

Source: NordVPN

NordVPN also has a lot of features and the screenshot below goes over a few of them. This is a feature rich VPN and user friendly as well.

Source: NordVPN

Nord’s over 6,300 servers, where ExpressVPN has 3,000 and Surfshark has over 3,200. The only one close is PureVPN with over 6,500 servers. Having servers in 111 countries means Nord’s global reach is slightly more than Express (105) and Surfshark (100). These have you covered. Regular travelers will find that Nord will not disappoint them when trying to connect at their destinations.

Apps, Payment Details and Other Information

We mentioned price inconsistency in the Pros and Cons. You get some sweetheart deals with introductory offers and can pay up to 2+ years in advance. Three years in some cases. Prices go as low as $3.99 a month. Once that introductory period is finished, then the prices skyrocket to around $13 a month. Which is a little higher than industry standard.

They have an app or extension for anything you want to use for the most part. Apps they have available or for Windows, MacOS, Linux (command line), Android/Android TV, iOS/iPadOS, TVOS, Amazon Fire TV, Kindle Fire, Meta Quest and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge).

The Cryptocurrencies that Nord takes is pretty good for a VPN. They also sell gift cards in retail stores for subscriptions you can redeem online.

Cryptocurrencies accepted are: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Dogecoin, XRP, Shiba Inu, and many others. The list keeps expanding and changing. They seem to do what their customers need and is cost effective.

NordVPN uses CoinGate to accept crypto payments. I personally have never used it, but have heard good things and it is very secure. They accept not only Bitcoin but many other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Cardano, Dogecoin, XRP, Shiba Inu. It is also compatible with various Bitcoin wallets, giving them a lot of flexibility.

We have partnered with Coinbase, Gemini, BTCC, and Paybis. We possibly could be adding a couple of more top rated exchanges to give our readers the best options. We know each person has a different set of needs and we are trying to accommodate. We want to give the best options available for our readers.

All of these exchanges are fully compliant Money Service Business (MSB) registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Before engaging with any cryptocurrency exchange, it’s crucial to verify its compliance status to ensure it’s registered as a MSB with FinCen.

Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange in the US and one of the largest in the world. Gemini is one of the most respected and trusted exchanges in the world and has a huge foot print in the US. BTCC is one of the oldest exchanges in existence and licensed around the globe. Paybis is one of the most respected exchanges in the world and allows you to instantly send cryptocurrency with a debit or credit card.

Other Tidbits about NordVPN

Nord allows 10 simultaneous connections at one time per account. That is pretty generous and up from the six that is used to allow. If you have a good high-speed internet connection this helps with keeping speeds up.

NordVPN is well known for unblocking geographic areas and allowing you to stream unrestricted. The only issues are with places like Prime Video and AppleTV, as they detected the use of a VPN, where with the apps the issues are not as widespread.

Nord uses their own VPN protocol with is lightning fast by all reports. It is called NordLynx and it is recommended for use for most everyone. They also use OpenVPN wich is slower but still a good option if you have to use it.

You can’t go wrong with this VPN, especially if you lock in a price for up to 2 years. If you have any issues then their customer service is great, once you can get a human, but before then it is still pretty good.

Whether you want to stream, surf the internet, stream movies, download torrents, or play video games online, NordVPN will keep you and your families identity safe.